Lead VFX Artist

Thought Pennies, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Thought Pennies Entertainment is a fully remote RPG studio focused on emotional storytelling and innovative visuals. We seek a Lead VFX Artist to craft and implement impactful real-time effects for an epic-fantasy world, working in close partnership with the Art Director to shape the visual style and ensure it aligns with game design and performance goals.

The role requires 4+ years in game development with strong combat and environmental VFX, plus expertise in UE5 pipelines, Cascade, Niagara,

Qualifications

• 4+ years game development experience with a strong focus on combat and environmental VFX.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Art Director to develop the game's visual effects style.
• Set the tone for VFX quality by creating high-quality, memorable, and impactful visual effects.
• Review milestone goals to plan all VFX deliverables, dates, and dependencies.
• Develop project-wide VFX pipelines across environment, character, cinematics, gameplay, and marketing.
• Coordinate with other departments to support their VFX needs and anticipate issues.
• Research and implement new industry tools, techniques, and methodologies to improve efficiency.

Skills

VFX pipeline leadership

Real-time VFX

Performance optimization

UE5 knowledge

Team collaboration

Tools

UE5

Cascade

Niagara

EmberGen

Unreal material graph

Job description

Thought Pennies Entertainment is a Role-Playing Game studio creating games focused on emotional storytelling. We celebrate diverse experiences and backgrounds as well as a passionate, hands-on, technically savvy approach to game development. We are fully remote.

The Lead VFX Artist has a key role in crafting the design, execution, and implementation of effects for an epic-fantasy world. This artist skillfully produces impactful and emotional real-time visual effects. As a partner to the Art Director, they champion the art vision and thread the needle between artistic aims and practical considerations.

This role requires a solid understanding of AA and AAA quality art bars, 3D VFX creation techniques, and a sense for timing, impact, storytelling, and drama. This is a hands-on position in which the Lead VFX Artist creates exceptionally impactful and believable combat and environmental effects, bolstered by an understanding of current game technologies, and ensures that effects are both on-style and performance.

What You Do

• Work closely with the Art Director to develop the game's visual effects style.
• Set the tone for VFX quality by creating high-quality, memorable, and impactful visual effects.
• Review current and upcoming milestone goals to plan all VFX department deliverables, dates, and dependencies in order to facilitate listed project goals.
• Develop project wide VFX pipelines across departments including environment, character, cinematics, gameplay, and marketing.
• Proactively reach out and coordinate with other departments to facilitate their VFX requirements as well as anticipate future needs and/ or potential issues.
• Research and implement new industry tools, techniques, and methodologies that could be beneficial to the project's efficiency and success.

What You Bring

• Strong technical and performance minded background and methodology. Able to proactively take point on the visual development of VFX pipeline, the broad technical considerations, and user workflow development. This includes but is not limited to process, reusability, frame/ memory optimization, and any overlap with other departments such as cinematics, gameplay, world, and tech art.
• 4+ years game development experience with a strong focus on combat and environmental VFX.
• A passion for crafting believable, epic, performant, and arresting visual effects.
• Expertise with industry-standard real-time techniques and content generation tools such as UE5 particle pipelines (Cascade and Niagara), volumetrics, flip books, EmberGen, destructibles, UE material graph.
• An understanding of UE5 pipelines for authoring, implementation, workflow efficiency, and technical performance.
• Strong foundational skills, including color theory, timing/ motion, form language, contrast, and composition.

Plus If You Have It

• Direct experience with implementing Physically Based Lighting on a shipped title either as a Lighting Artist or in a hybrid role.
• Prior experience developing Roleplaying games, especially in Unreal 5.
• Ability to think procedurally or in reducing repetitive content generation tasks.
• A flair for emotional atmosphere and lighting, with a masterful grasp of environmental storytelling.
• Coding experience (Python, HLSL, C++) or strong understanding of optimized UE Blueprint tool development
• Wide artistic culture chops - fine arts, theater, film, fashion, comics, games, etc.

Application Materials

Portfolio demonstrating personal or professional work in creating visual effects, lighting, and motion graphics.

CV and/ or LinkedIn URL